A Virtual Quilting Bee

Howdy friends! Today I’d like to announce and invite you to a new Virtual Quilting Bee. I was so glad for the feed back that was given on this post. A few of the common requests were handy tips and techniques for quilters as well as the idea of a quilt-a-long. So I decided to combine a bunch of those into one handy event, and voila, a Virtual Quilting Bee was born.

Let me explain a little bit of how this will work. For the next three Fridays I’ll be talking about supplies, quilting basics, and choosing fabrics/colors. We’re going to make a quilt similar in layout to the sampler quilt I made in 2012 (see above). This quilt will have a whole new selection of blocks designed and taught by 16 talented and creative bloggers.

There will be a new block tutorial every other Friday through the next 8 months. And when the blocks are completed we will talk about assembling the blocks, adding borders, and then quilting and finishing the quilt. So the project will be in little bits and pieces staggered throughout the whole year.

Here’s the neatest part. We’re going to create two versions of the same quilt – a traditional and a modern version! One with very traditional quilting fabrics, colors etc using the upcoming collection Happy Go Lucky, by Bonnie and Camille (huge thanks to Moda for sponsoring these fabrics)

as well as a Modern/Contemporary version using Kona Solids sponsored by Robert Kaufman (thank you RK!) I’m so excited to see how this color experiment works out!

A final word: I know there are a jillion and 1 Block of the Month, quilt-a-longs,etc. already out there. Please participate at the level you are most excited about. (No one feeling guilted in to one more thing!)If it means waiting with baited breath for the next block and sewing it up that afternoon, awesome! If it means just following along to learn a new trick, or block, or technique to use in your current projects, great! If it means just tuning in for the pretty pictures of fabric or pinning it for future reference when the kids start preschool, that’s super too!

I love the best aspects of this virtual online quilting community, which means supporting each other at our own pace and preference. I’m just so glad to know you’re all out there and for the support you give to me and to each other.

Finally, this is my first time ever doing something like this. I’d LOVE your feed back. Do you want incentives and prizes or are you just interested in content? Are there specific topics you would like covered? What would you like this to be? Feel free to share, and if it works within the scope of what we’re trying to do, we’ll add it in!

108 Comments

I think this is a great idea. I didn&#39;t find your blog until later in 2012. The block of the month was inspiring and I hope to get with it and make each one. I have appreciated the tutorials and explanations here and hope they continue. I don&#39;t need prizes or praise. I do love learning from others so keep doing what you are good at and I will most likely follow and learn.<br />

Awesome! As a new quilter, I really look forward to learning! I have found several &quot;block of the week&quot; posts…but they never finish the darn thing (or at least show you how) so I&#39;m looking forward to that too. I only know what I&#39;ve found on Pinterest. 🙂

I would love to follow along with your quilting bee and I have already &quot;pinned&quot; it to my BOM and QAL board. I&#39;m not so big on prizes and giveaways but appreciate the content and helpful tips and tricks.

&quot;I love the best aspects of this virtual online quilting community, which means supporting each other at our own pace and preference.&quot; — Amy, I could just hug you! That panic was already welling up when I got to that part of your post! I&#39;ve always been a one-project-at-a-time quilter, but last year I committed to a year-long monthly free-motion quilting challenge, participated in

This sounds like a fun series! I guess giveaways/prizes/incentives are always nice, but for me personally, I am more interested in the content as I am just starting to try my hand at quilting. I&#39;ve sewn for years, but never tried to make a quilt until recently.

I tend to get sucked into QAL&#39;s and then give up mid-quilt. But this seems about my pace. A block every couple weeks, which will be perfect for a small breather in between other projects. Great idea! If only I could get my hands on some Happy Go Lucky, life would be complete!

Yeah!! Finally a doable quilting bee!! I am in and so very excited. I am all about the content and could care less about giveaways and incentives. They are everywhere with the disclaimer that you have to &quot;like&quot; this fb post and then such and such a blog and then jump here and there blah blah. Just give me the content already and let&#39;s learn something new!! Yay!!

This sounds like fun and I can&#39;t wait to participate. And if I post about it on my blog I think I will stay committed! I&#39;m a beginner quilter and I look forward to virtually making a quilt with an expert. Can we put a logo on our own blog? And I think it would be neat to have a link party to see each other&#39;s creations as we go along… maybe the first one could be what fabrics we

Sounds Amazing! I&#39;m in… as for fabrics, I&#39;m going to use my stash in the hopes of dwindling it (ok and being a good steward of what we are given). Would you add info about directional prints or large/small motifs or light/med/dark color choices?<br /><br />

I am new to quilting still and keep reading about QAL and Bees but have never considered doing one. This I am…I love that quilt and before even reading the post I thought to myself that I would love to have one like it.

I&#39;m also new at quilting, just finished my first class, so this sounds like it could be very doable. I&#39;m excited that you&#39;re starting with fabric choices, because I think that&#39;s a lesson I really need. And I need to use some of the fabrics I&#39;ve been collecting. I don&#39;t often try to win the prizes because of the many hoops to go through–that&#39;s not the important thing

Amy, you are TERRIFIC!!!! I am sooooo excited for this virtual QAL! I love the way you will run this. I have been quilting about a year and a half and feel I have so much to learn. I admire your quilts and know I will learn so much from you and the other bloggers! One thing I could really use help on is putting on machine binding front and back. I have a terrible time at that. Thank you for this

I&#39;ve made some quilts but I&#39;m not very good at them. I&#39;d sure like to join also. I&#39;ll have one qal finished tomorrow and the other two are low stress so this will be fun. I work at a slower pace so prizes are not important to me. Thank you for the invitation.

I love the idea , as a beginner quilter and also lover of modern quilts this sounds perfect to me. also I know noone in person near my house who could quilt with me so i like the idea of a community. thank you

I&#39;m not so much into the prizes, I never win anyway, but I am very interested in technique and fabric bundle discounts! 😀 I&#39;ll be following along if not participating! ~ Tabatha at BendingPins.com ~

This sounds so awesome! I am really trying to learn new techniques and always trying to find a new challenge for me. I´m joining this for sure! 🙂 Just started quilting few years ago… got bored (I used to be perfectionist… learning not to be) because I couldn´t do as great as you or Judi etc. Firts time this year I made a quilt that I said &quot;this is great, I really love this&quot; and

I love the idea of a flickr group or weekly linky to share pictures for inspiration. I am not a block of month person usually, but the idea of a Kona solids quilt has started to settle into my brain so, maybe I will.

Can&#39;t wait for this. I am not interested in prizes, just learning. I would love a lesson on flying geese. I&#39;ve tried many methods but can&#39;t seem to find one where they accommodate for the 1/4 inch seam. I always end up cutting off the point! Any help on that would be wonderful.

Yaayyyyy! I totally agree with CathyK a few posts up! I&#39;m fairly new to quilting too and would love to learn a few new things. I love your work and your blog and know I will learn lots from you and the others participating! I love how you&#39;ll let us go at our own pace- this is sooo exciting! I don&#39;t need prizes either – just learning a few things is plenty for me! Thanks, Amy!

This looks like fun! I hope I can keep up 🙂 I think you should spotlight some of the QAL-ers periodically through the year. I don&#39;t often have time to troll new blogs through a linky party, so seeing everyone&#39;s different blocks on your blog would be nice.<br /><br />Also, do you need a FQ bundle, or would a fat eighth suffice?

Hi Amy. It sounds great. I will be the last kind of participator – the one who watches everyones progress, prints or pins the notes and will do it &quot;one day when I&#39;ve got time&quot;. I&#39;m living til 300 right? Prizes etc are lovely but I don&#39;t think always necessary. They are more of a bonus. I just like to follow along, learn new things and look at other people&#39;s pretties.

This is certainly very tempting, especially the solid version but I already have so much on my list that I want to actually complete this year. I&#39;m going to think on this for a bit and see if I can&#39;t resist.

You&#39;re talking to me when you say &quot;pinning it for future reference when the kids start preschool.&quot; I&#39;m starting my first quilt soon, but it&#39;s for my littlest guy so it&#39;ll be small. I can&#39;t wait to follow along!!<br />

I will definitely be following along. I&#39;m not sure if I will be sewing each block yet, but will have to see what happens. I&#39;m looking forward to your tutorials in the hopes of learning new tips and tricks.i love the colors you have picked and can&#39;t wait to see how your quilt turns out. Thanks for all of your hard work.

I am so excited…this will be fun and the fabrics are pretty regardless of which direction I ultimately choose. Regarding prizes/incentives – for me the prize is learning some new techniques and having the fun of being part of this virtual community. Sooooo….let&#39;s get going!

I was so excited when I seen this! I can&#39;t wait, and will be great fun regardless of prizes or incentives!<br /><br />Now I just have to gather my supplies x<br /><br />Can&#39;t wait to get started. <br /><br />x

Hi Amy! Wow, this sounds like so much fun! I am going to see if I can participate once you release the details, supplies, etc. I love how you&#39;re spacing it out, it sounds doable to get one block done every 2 weeks. I really hope I can commit, this honestly sounds awesome. 🙂

I&#39;m so excited!!!! I&#39;ve never done a quilt along before, but I liked your Farmer&#39;s Wife quilt so much, I bought the book. I love the idea of doing it in two different styles, too. As plenty of people have said before, prizes are great, but content is better! I&#39;m new to quilting, so getting tips and tricks is truly wonderful. I just can&#39;t wait to start!

I recently bought the Puppy Park by Riley Blake bundle for the Craftsy 2013 BOM but I don&#39;t really like the quilt soooo maybe I can use that bundle for this QAL? I also have a Jay McCarroll bundle that might actually be perfect for this. I&#39;ve got a little time to make that decision. Should be fun and I&#39;m really looking forward to it! 🙂

I&#39;m in!<br />I&#39;ve only just started quilting and have made just the one quilt – following your beginners quilting series. Now I&#39;m on to a second version for my expecting sister&#39;s baby.<br />Of course I&#39;m now completely hooked on quilting (and buying fabric) so I can&#39;t wait to follow this series to learn more techniques.<br />I&#39;ll be in the modern camp and am off to

After reading this on Friday it has been popping up in my head all weekend. I am very new to quilting. Doing my first very simple just squares one right now. I keep referencing your beginning quilting series. It has been super helpful. Thank you so much for taking the time to do that. I am so excited about this. I am going to do it with you. I am more concerned about content than prizes.

I&#39;m a sucker for BOM&#39;s and Quilt-alongs, which has ended up in a stack of project boxes still on the go! But I&#39;m in anyway, every other week will give me an incentive to finish something else before I can open the latest post! Prizes are good, but not necessary.

Can&#39;t wait! I&#39;m hoping to follow along and plan to use Kona solids. At some point, could you provide more detail on fabric requirements for those of us who might be putting together our own bundles? Total yardage, how many different shades, light/dark suggestions?<br /><br />Many thanks!

I love your blog. It has quickly become one of my favorites to visit regularly. I used your tutorials to help finish my first quilt. I love the idea of this virtual quilting bee and can&#39;t wait to see what you have for us. Thank you!

Oh, Amy this sounds like fun. I&#39;ve been lurking on quilting blogs for the past year trying to get up the courage to dig in and start one. This decided it for me and I am looking forward to getting my feet wet! Tips/instruction would be greatly appreciated. 🙂

I am super excited about this quilting bee Amy. I loved YOUR version of the Bloggers BOM and never got a chance to play along. I always love what you make… so I know it will give me another reason to love Friday&#39;s (or every other one)!

Chiming in late, but…<br /><br />I will definitely be doing this! I just started quilting, this past Christmas. I&#39;m really excited! <br /><br />One thing I would *love* for you to address, along the lines of fabric choices, is: could you explain the difference between the designer fabrics that you can only get online and in quilt shops, and the quilt fabrics that you get at Jo-ann&#39;s.

Rachel, if you ever FEEL one of each fabric, side by side, you will know instantly the difference! I took some fabric bought at JoAnn&#39;s and some on-line fabric to my quilting group to let them feel the difference…You should have heard the AAH&#39;s and OOOhs..It was definitely an Ah-Hah moment for all! I buy BOTH kinds and wait for sales for designer fabric which can be bought as cheaply

Dear Amy, thanks for the quilting bee, I definitely would like to participate. As I live in Europe, getting fabric supply is an issue, so I would appreciate your calculation about the fabric needs. That would help a lot, to be prepared for the bee. Any special rate for the fabric at RK? Many thanks!

Wow! Do you need one more person who&#39;s interested? This looks like fun and I love the fact that we can follow along with no pressure to complete. I&#39;m new to quilting and I already have a couple projects started and nothing finished. I keep joining quilt alongs but never have the right amount of fabrics on hand. Guess I need to build my stash! I will be signing up to follow your blog via

What a great concept – I love that you are offering so many options to follow along. I&#39;m already participating in a ridiculous number of quilt-alongs (how did that happen?), but I&#39;ll definitely be checking in to se any tips and techniques you might be offering. Fabulous. Bravo!<br /> – sunshdws at yahoo dot com

i SEW QAL with prize at the end and a %% discount for fabric.. I love your inspiration and the way you talk to your blogger buddies, If I can Help, or cheer let me know I have about 100 new followers to cheer on……….

I&#39;m a new quilter and I love this idea! I love that the blocks come faster than BOM&#39;s and I can learn new tricks and tips. I don&#39;t need prizes but a Flikr group would be awesome to see all the cool designs!

This is fantastic…. just found you but I love how we can go at our own pace. I have done a couple of Mystery quilts and the last one was just plain ruined because I had too much going on so I rushed to try to meet the deadlines. So your current BOM is calling to me. I also am in a BOM at my favorite Quilt Shop – but that one is very laid back like yours! Thank you for doing this for all of

Hey, Amy…<br />Thanks for the invite…I&#39;ll be working through this with SassyQuilter, but I wondered if you remember the name of your &quot;bundle&quot; used in &#39;the Sampler Quilt of 2012&#39;? <br />I love the color pallet, and if it is already bundled in fat quarters, it would be easier to find this combination.<br />Thanks much for your help.<br />Debi

That&#39;s great Debi! Glad you&#39;re joining in!! I&#39;m afraid the fabrics I used for the 2012 Sampler Quilt aren&#39;t in any formal bundle – they&#39;re all from my stash. I just pulled fabrics I liked and threw them in. But if you&#39;re looking for similar colors, I would check bundles from collections by Bonnie and Camille for Moda. One of their collections, Marmalade is similar. I hope

I&#39;m a new blogger and just found your sites. I&#39;m very new to all this social media and have a lot to catch up. My blog is shadowlanequiltsandcrafts.blogspot.com. I don&#39;t know how to connect mine with yours.<br /> Let me know if you&#39;re having a new BOM project. This quilt is beautiful.

[…] and “how to” information that I followed and I started learning how to quilt. Enter, online quilting bees, online quilting swaps and online quilt alongs (click on these links to find out about these super […]

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